Telling Dad and Moving On
by LissaMarie
Summary: NEW-Ch. 9&10 Sequel to Daddy Dearest. GC, WS, NK...A field of buried children is discovered, the most recent burial occuring only a week earlier. Will the CSIs find the killer before he takes the life of another innocent child?
1. Innocence Shattered

Title: Telling Dad and Moving On  
  
Author: LissaMarie  
  
E-mail: MelMarie612@aol.com  
  
Rated: PG-13 (I might make that higher depending on how graphic I get. There is violence against children and swearing.)  
  
Feedback: Please! I like to know how I'm doing.  
  
Disclaimer: All the characters that you may recognize from CSI - Crime Scene Investigation do not belong to me. The other original characters do belong to me.  
  
Summary: Kait tries to convince Nick to let her tell her father about their relationship. Catherine and Grissom are moving toward a relationship that is more than friendly. Warrick and Sara find themselves falling hard for one another. Sequel to Daddy Dearest--Takes place a few months later.  
  
Author's Note #1: This contains **SPOILERS** for the **SEASON 2 FINALE**. I will be mentioning Gil's...illness (Was that vague enough for spoiler virgins overseas?). If you have not seen the finale and do not wish to know what I'm talking about, please do not continue. I invite you back to read this fic at a later date. I just don't want to ruin anyone's surprise.  
  
AN #2: This fic is set in early December which would make Daddy Dearest set in about September. I'm not using the case I mentioned at the end of that story...That was just my way of finishing. I have a new case blocked out that will get to every CSI...  
  
**WARNING: This story contains violence toward a children. I strongly believe that the worst crimes that are committed are those against children. This story is, in no way, intended to sensationalize such crimes. I needed a case that would get everyone where they live and this is what I came up with.**  
  
  
  
_Okay, now that that is all done...Thank you all for your support of Daddy Dearest. I wasn't all that sure of my ability to write the complex characters of CSI correctly, but I figured I would try anyway. No one has told me that it sucked TOO BAD, so I will continue with this story. Apparently, my chapters were too short for the other fic, so I'll ask again...  
  
Long chapters less often, or short chapters more often? Either works for me. I'm going to have school and work starting in just over a week (instead of just work and occasionally babysitting), so updates will not be as frequent as before. I won't be able to write in class until I get into the groove of having class again (Who actually pays attention in Trig anyway??)._  
  
Enough of my ramble and onto the story...  
  
  
Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 1  
By LissaMarie  
August 25-26, 2002  
  
  
"Do you think Lindsay would prefer to just get a gift certificate to the toy store? I guess, it would be easier for Catherine if I just picked out a toy. Maybe a doll?" Kait turned around to Nick who was following her around the mall carrying her bags. They were finishing up Kait's Christmas shopping on their only night off, and both were having a good time. The crowds and noise barely fazed the two as they focus their attention on one another.  
  
"She's a nine year old girl--She probably has tons of dolls. Maybe some clothes for them and something else," Nick suggested. He chuckled when Kait lifted an eyebrow toward him. "I do have 3 sisters."  
  
"That's what we'll do. Let's get something to eat first though. I'm starving," Kait decided leading them toward the food court. Her knee-length skirt swayed gently with each step, and she, in her semi-tight white blouse, caught the attention of most of the men that walked by. She paid them no mind but she knew Nick was feeling territorial. She could feel him walking closer to her. They passed by Victoria's Secret, and Nick shot a brash grin toward Kait who, in turn, slapped his arm--Hard.  
  
"Ow!" Nick rubbed his arm as best he could with the bags in his hands.  
  
"My dad and I are having dinner at my house next Friday night," Kait informed Nick as they somehow managed to find an empty table in the bustling food court.  
  
Nick grunted in response. He knew where this conversation was going.  
  
"Maybe you can join us. I'm sure dad wouldn't mind," she hinted as she looked around at all the vendors. So, so many choices...  
  
"I don't want to interrupt your time with your father. I'm sure that--"  
  
"Are you afraid of my dad, Nick?" Kait questioned, interrupting his sentence with a sweet smile playing on her lips.  
  
"_No_," Nick insited leaning back in his chair.  
  
"Fine. Then we'll tell him tomorrow at the office--"  
  
"Not at the office. He's required to carry a gun at the office," Nick explained, this time leaning forward as if trying to reinforce his point.  
  
"Dad won't shoot you, if only because of the inconvenience of having to find someone to take over your work," Kati explained soothingly.  
  
"Thanks, Kait. That makes me feel a whole lot better."  
  
Kait decided to drop the subject and move on. "So what are your plans for Christmas?"  
  
Nick accepted the change of topic gratefully. "I was thinking of going down to my sister's house. The holiday dinner's have been moved there since my mother isn't really up to the cooking and entertaining involved in having it at her house anymore."  
  
"Oh," Kait replied sounding disappointed.  
  
"If you want me to stay up here, I can--"  
  
"I would never ask you to skip out on your family. I'll probably spend the day with my dad. It'll be our first Christmas together," Kait told him seriously. "If your plans to go to Texas fall through or anything, you're more than welcome to come over my place. Even if we do it as just-friends around my father."  
  
"Do you want me to come to dinner Friday night?" Nick finally asked after moment of silence.  
  
"What I want is a cheeseburger and an extra-large fry and for you to do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable, and if us spending time together behind my father's back makes you feel comfortable, that's the way we'll keep it. What can I get you while I'm up?" Kait stated as she stretched.  
  
"You stay and watch your bags--I'll go," he stood up and began to walk away. He hesitated for a second and turned around. "What time should I be over Friday night?"  
  
"Six thirty would be perfect," Kait smiled as she watched him walk away from the table. Things finally seemed perfect to her.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
Jeff Sampson made his way over the hill toward the grounds he was supposed to survey. He wondered absently why anyone would want to build any kind of business in the middle of nowhere when all the action in Downtown Vegas. He didn't much care, really. His job was to get the measurements and give them to the boss. He did wish, though, that he had waited until morning or asked someone to join him. His mind had always played tricks on him while he was alone at night.  
  
He stood in the middle of the field and placed his equipment down on the ground. It would have been easier to do his work during the daylight hours, but an earlier deadline had been set, and he had a lot to do. He dug a small hole in the rain-softened soil/sand. The uneven grounding made his job all the more difficult. Something hard in the ground captured his attention, and he went about trying to uncover it.  
  
What he saw made him recoil in shock. "Oh my God."  
  
A small human skull had been unearthed.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
Gil Grissom arrived at the scene with Catherine, Sara, and Warrick in tow. Jim Brass had called him personally and told him to bring every CSI he could. He hadn't mentioned what had happened.  
  
"You're not going to believe this one," the homicide detective said in place of a hello. "A surveyor came out to the grounds to get a job down and came across a skeleton as he was doing it."  
  
"What's so unbelievable about that?" Warrick couldn't help but ask. It was a sad fact, but murders happened all the time. He saw Sara nod in agreement.  
  
"The skeleton was of a child, the best we can tell," Brass explained patiently. "But the part you won't believe is what we found when we got here. More skeletons. A body too."  
  
"How many are we talking about?" Grissom asked his eyes wide.  
  
"So far 4--all kids--, but we're going to keep looking," Jim told them straight faced. The wear on his face was evident. No one liked investigating a case involving children.  
  
"Maybe we should call in Nick and Kait," Warrick suggested.  
  
Catherine looked up sharply. "I'll do it," she said quickly. She knew that no one knew about Kait and Nick's relationship. She was sure that Warrick had an idea that something was going on with them, but he wasn't sure like she was. Kait had let her in on the little secret, and Catherine gave her advice whenever she needed it.  
  
Gil gave her an odd look before nodding. He and the other two CSI's started won to the crime scene.  
  
Catherine pulled out her cell phone and dialed the now-familiar number to Kait's apartment.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
Kait moaned quietly as Nick's hands trailed down her back and his lips caressed hers. She pulled herself into his lap and pressed closer to him. Her fingers wove through his hair keeping his lips on hers.  
  
Then the phone rang.  
  
Nick pulled away slightly and put his forehead against hers. "Someone will die," he promised in a whisper with a small smile playing on his lips.  
  
Kait groaned and grabbed the phone. "Kait Grissom."  
  
"Hey, Kait. I hope I'm not interrupting anything," a voice she recognized as Catherine's said.  
  
Smacking Nick's hand from under her skirt playfully, she giggled, "Nope. What exactly would you be interrupting?"  
  
"I don't know...Maybe some private time with a certain dark and handsome man."  
  
"A dark and handsome man? Nick's the only other person here. Who're you talkin' about?" Kait replied laughing when Nick pouted at her.  
  
"I'm actually calling for work. We got a new crime scene. Four DBs so far and they're expecting more. They're kids according to Brass. Can we count on you and Nick to get out here?"  
  
"We'll leave in a few minutes," Kait assured her. Catherine gave her the location, and Kait hung up without saying goodbye.  
  
"We're going to work?" Nick questioned raising his eyebrows. He knew he and Kait wouldn't get any further than the were, but he had been enjoying himself. Kait was definitely something else.  
  
"They've got four dead children, and they're expecting more," Kait explained extracting herself from his embrace. She stood up and looked down at herself. She decided quickly that the fleece pants and oversized sweatshirt (that some how got in her draw from Nick's house) that she had changed into after they had arrived at her house would have to do.  
  
Nick pulled himself up and grabbed his coat from the arm of the couch. He helped Kait into hers, and they were off.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
_So, how's that for a start? This case is a little more in depth than the other one and will probably take longer to unravel. I hope that you will find it and the characters' reactions to it interesting. As always, Read and Review, please._


	2. The Body Of A Little Girl

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Not many reviews...How are you guys (or girls) liking this? Are there only three people reading? I won't threatened to hold back parts until I get reviews or anything like that (I find that a little distasteful, personally), but I could use the input from the people who are spending their time reading this. Should I get into the relationships deeper right away? The first bit will probably focus most on Kait and Nick. Both of them feel deeply for victims of crimes who are children, and I will write that a bit. Plus Nick's revelation about the babysitter to Kait (It has to be brought up at some point, right?). Well, I'll stop this ramble, but please let me know what you think. It is a lot of help.  
  
  
Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 2  
By LissaMarie  
August 27-30, 2002  
  
  
After arriving at the scene (in separate SUVs, of course) Nick and Kait made their way through the various vehicles that were parked at the scene toward where it appeared everyone was gathered. Kait sucked in a breath when they were close enough to see what was going on.  
  
There was one man she didn't recognize from her time in the lab using ground penetrating radar canvassing the area, and several forensic excavations going on. More than the four Catherine had mentioned on the phone. Without realizing it, both Kait and Nick sped up their paces.  
  
"What do we have so far?" Nick asked Warrick in lieu of a greeting.  
  
"We have 5 bodies on their way to the lab, and more are still coming. Six more for certain. The forensic anthropologist on the scene is estimating that some of the victims have been buried here for 10 years or longer. One that is on its way to the lab is still pretty much intact. Gris wants to talk to the two of you. He'll probably send you to the lab to process the bodies and leave us with the scene," Warrick told them, gesturing over his shoulder. He turned back to his work without another word.  
  
Nick understood that the case was getting to Warrick, and that he hadn't intended to be--essentially--rude to them. He out his hand on the small of Kait's back at led her over to Grissom. He was careful to remove his hand before he noticed them.  
  
"Hey, dad, where do you want us?" Kait asked wrapping her arms tightly around herself when she saw what her father was studying. Lying in the ground, there was fleshless torso clothed in a dirty dress that appeared to have been pink at one time. Its size made her believe it was a child of no more than six.  
  
Gil looked between the two of them for a few seconds curiously before responding. "Down at the lab. We need someone to get working on what we have there so far. Any more people here would just add to the confusion. As it is, we already have every person with field experience including cadets."  
  
"Anything specific that you want us to run with them?" Kait questioned not moving her eyes away from the child's remains. She felt a familiar burning in her eyes, but she would never allow herself to cry on the job. She had to be professional. She spun around when two man carrying a stretcher with a black body bag on it. Both men had tears running down there faces.  
  
"Just be as thorough as you can," Grissom assured them. He noticed his daughter's lack of attention and felt for her. None of the cases she had handled since joining them in Vegas had involved children, and he knew this case would cut into her. She had always felt more for the helpless, like children, than anything else.  
  
Nick nodded toward their boss and took Kait's elbow. Usually he wouldn't touch her in front of her father, but he couldn't keep himself from trying to comfort her. Truth be told, the scene was getting to him as well, and he needed to feel her presence. He led her back to their trucks and decided that they should ride together. Everyone would still be at the scene tomorrow morning, and they could come back to get Kait's truck then.  
  
"Hey, you okay?" Nick whispered in her ear when they were behind the truck and out of view of the others.  
  
"What?" Kait looked up sharply.  
  
"I asked if you were okay. You seem a little out of it," Nick told her soothingly.  
  
"Let's just get to the lab." She shook off his hands that were rubbing up and down her arms and went to the passenger side of the Tahoe and climbed in. She heard Nick sit down beside her and start the truck. She realized, somewhat absently, that she should apologize for being gruff.  
  
She didn't though.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
_AN: I am purposely redundant with some words and phrases in this part. It isn't for lack of imagination but in order to capture the character and scene better._  
  
  
Kait stared at the small form on her examination table. It was a little girl--only it really wasn't. It was the BODY of a little girl.  
  
The body of a little girl wouldn't jump off the table and giggle about how they fooled everyone like a little girl would.  
  
The body of a little girl would not grow up with dreams of being an animal doctor or an explorer like little girls sometimes do.  
  
The body of a little girl was nothing except a little girl who had all of that stolen from her.  
  
Kait leaned forward and methodically removed the clothing from the body. She folded it neatly, so Nick wouldn't have to bother with it. She got a small vacuum to collect the trace evidence from the body. She started at the body's feet and worked her way up to its face. She combed the body's hair and got a wet cloth to clean off the excess dirt knowing that any fingerprints that may have been on the body at one time were already gone..  
  
Once she was done, all that was left was a badly beaten body of a little girl. It was almost hard for Kait to continue to think of it as a body. The little girl had light brown hair with curls much like Kaitlyn's had been when she was younger. Her china doll face was marred by spots of decay. The little girl's tiny shoulders had bruises on them that were very likely made by a man's large hands. Similar contusions were evident on the little girl's hips and thighs. The implications of those made tears fall from Kait's eyes.  
  
Kait heard the lab door open, and she wiped her eyes with her wrists before she turned around.  
  
"She's been in the ground about a week. She wasn't dead much longer than that--a few days probably," Kait informed Nick as he entered the autopsy bay.  
  
"Did you find anything else?" Nick asked quietly, as if he could wake up the little girl in the room with them.  
  
"No, but I had a though. Can you grab the ALS?" Kait questioned. She unfolded the clothing the little girl had been wearing. She laid it out on the table and waited for Nick to shine the light over it. When he did, there were spots that glowed. "We have our killer's DNA. He made the mistake of being overly eager with this little girl."  
  
Nick looked up quickly then over to the little girl. His jaw tightened as his hate for the man that had committed the horrendous crimes they were investigating grew.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
Kait stripped off her latex gloves and turned around to Nick. She was surprised to see him asleep in a chair that he had drug in when she started the autopsy. She smiled at his relaxed form, liking how innocent he looked when he slept.  
  
It wasn't the first time she had been with him while he was sleeping. There had been many times, after she found a place of her own, that she had made them dinner, and he stayed over. They would share the bed, but he would never push anything. He would just hold her, and they would talk until one of them dozed off.  
  
A frown came to Kait's features when Nick began to mumble under his breath and tense. She stepped closer to him and reached out to touch his face.  
  
"Nicky, it's okay. You're just having a dream," she whispered in his ear in a soothing tone. He calmed down almost instantly. Her fingers trailed down his face. "You're going to have to wake up, Nick. An autopsy bay isn't a great place to try to take a nap."  
  
"Just five more minutes, mom," Nick joked opening his eyes slowly and looking around. "I really did fall asleep in the autopsy bay. Huh." He stood up to stretch.  
  
"Well, it is almost noon. We've been here awhile," Kait comforted him with a small grin. She leaned back against the counter next to him.  
  
"So, you're done..." Nick gestured toward the empty exam table vaguely.  
  
"Yeah. No surprises. The girl was molested before she was killed. Death was by a blunt force trauma to the back of the skull. I sent samples down to toxicology just to be certain. She was dead for at least a day before being buried. She's been buried for 7 maybe 10 days." Kait brushed back a few curls that had escaped her tight French braid. She rubbed her eyes, and the exhaustion stemmed from over 24 hours without sleep was very evident.  
  
"You asked Warrick to drive you truck here when he was done at the scene, right?" Kait nodded. "Why don't we take my Tahoe over to your place. You can take a shower while I fix us something for lunch, and then we can both get some much needed sleep. We can come back this evening with a fresh perspective." Nick was suggesting this for Kait's sake. If it were just him, he'd run himself into the ground on a case like this one before decided to go home, but she looked dead on her feet. Seeing her like that made his protective, chivalrous side kick in.  
  
"Well, I do sort of feel like I have a week's worth of grime on me, but hopefully, that's just my imagination," Kait wrinkled her nose. She followed Nick out of the lab and tried to forget the sight of the little girl laying on her autopsy table. With Nick's help, she did.  
  
And with her help, so did he.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
_I had originally intended for this part to be longer, but I don't know when my next opportunity to write will be, so I figured I'd post this instead of making you wait a long time for anything at all. Starting next week, Tuesday and Thursday evenings will be the only definite time I have to spend on the computer (Those are the days I requested off from work). I'll probably be on at other times, but I'm not really sure for how long.  
  
So tell me...Does Nick reveal what the babysitter did to him when they're at her apartment? I already have plans for them later on but not for this, so HELP! **vbg**_


	3. Nick Tells Kait

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Thanks for the reviews! I have off from work tomorrow, so I figured I'd get this part out today to try to get some people's suggestions for the other couples to work on that tomorrow. Like I said before, the first few parts will be Nick/Kait, but I will get into the other relationships after that. I have no idea where I'm going with those relationships (Except Kait being completely disgusted by the idea of her father having sex -- Come on, how can I not include that?! ). Suggestions and ideas are welcome as always. Thanks!  
  
  
Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 3  
By LissaMarie  
August 31, 2002  
  
  
Kait exited the bathroom dressed in dark flannel pajama pants topped with a tight gray t-shirt. Her long, wet curls laid against her back as she made her way out to the kitchen. She found Nick there leaning over a frying pan on the stove.  
  
"Showers free if you want to hop in," Kait offered walking up to him and rubbing his back and shoulders. He didn't say anything, so she leaned her head between his shoulder blades and wrapped her arms around his waist. "What's on your mind?"  
  
Nick snapped out of it. "Nothing much. My shower can wait until after we eat. I hope you don't mind grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was all I can make out of what you had." He turned around and out his own arms around her shoulders, leaning down to kiss her sweetly on the lips.  
  
"Sounds good to me," she mumbled against his lips. She pulled away and looked into his eyes, becoming serious. "If you really needed to talk, you'd come to me, wouldn't you?" She asked the question worried that, as their relationship progressed, he was putting less trust in her than she was in him. She hated to think that he didn't feel he could talk to her.  
  
"I would," he assured her. "I will. Let's just eat, okay?" He put a sandwich on each of the two plates Kait took out and spooned some soup into the bowls. They carried them over to the small kitchen table, and both sat down to eat in silence.  
  
When she finished, Kait stayed in her seat and stared at Nick. She didn't realize that she was gawking until Nick mentioned it.  
  
"Do you have any idea how disconcerting it is to have someone watch you eat?" Nick questioned, smiling when he saw her jerk out of her stupor. "Is it really bothering you that much that I won't tell you what I'm thinking about?"  
  
"Yes, actually it is," Kait told him honestly. "I tell you everything, but you won't tell me what's bothering you. And don't tell me nothing because I know that you'd be lying." She stood up. Picking up both of their dishes, she carried them over to the sink to rinse them out.  
  
"It's this case," Nick admitted to her back. He watched Kait turn around slowly and leaned against the counter, obviously waiting for him to continue. He didn't know how.  
  
"That's a start. This is something that we can talk about. The case is getting to me too. Finding those kids got to everyone. It even got to my dad even though he tried to hide it. What is it about the case that is bothering you so much besides the fact that there is a case like this at all?" Kait asked.  
  
Nick got up from the wooden chair and made his way toward the more comfortable sofa. He took a seat and felt Kait come down next to him. "How do you do it?" he asked suddenly.  
  
"Do what?" she frowned.  
  
"The autopsies. How do you cut open the bodies of children as if they were nothing more than lab animals?"  
  
Kait cringed at his tone. "It's my job. I examine the remains to see how the person lived, what their last hours were like, how they died, and if they were murdered, who killed them. I told you before. I help the families of the victims achieve some kind of justice and closure. No matter how hard I try, I can't bring the victims that lay on my tables back to life; I'm not God. I can only do so much. Does my job bother you?"  
  
"No," Nick told her quickly. "I understand why you do what you do. I'm sorry I asked. I shouldn't have." He ran his finger over her knuckles in apology, and she smiled at him. "What would you say that girl's last few hours were like?"  
  
"In my opinion? Hell on Earth. Probably full of pain, and things that don't even make it into children's worst nightmares--All of those things that parents believe will never happen to their kids. She was raped repeatedly by a man who, of course, took no care to be gentle. She was perhaps scared out of her mind. I don't think she could have been a day over 9 years old, so she most likely understood what had happened, at least on some level. She possibly felt dirty--different, strange, abnormal. She might had thought about her parents or her friends, and how they would feel about her if they found out. I can imagine that she cried continuously. Of course, psychology isn't really my specialty, but in my opinion, the quick death that the blow to the head gave her might have been a welcomed reprieve at a time of intense pain and suffering." Kait went through her explanation in a clinical, detached tone, though she felt white hot anger surge through her veins as she thought about what that little girl had endured at the hands of a madman that, for all they know, was out doing the same thing to another child.  
  
"Sometimes you can't cry. You don't feel like you should. You're not a kid anymore, and only kids cry," Nick told her distantly.  
  
Kait's eyes darted and met his searchingly. "Where is this coming from, Nicky?" She had a feeling she already knew and the mere thought made her feel nauseous. Thinking about sexual abuse happening to a stranger was one thing, but thinking about it happening to the man that she felt very strongly for, gnawed at her.  
  
"The first time was when I was 9. My parents were going out with some friends, and my babysitter had gotten the flu. She couldn't come over, but suggested her neighbor. She was a couple years younger than my normal babysitter, but since my sitter was going off to college in less than a year, everyone thought it would be best if I got used to having another person staying with me. She charmed my parents the second she walked into the door, and she was fun for the first few hours. She played around more than my sitter usually did. I went up to my room an hour later than my normal bedtime, and she followed me up. She was watching me while I got out pajamas, and chuckled when I asked her if she could turn around while I changed. She took the flannels from me an led me over to the bed...I had bruises that hurt whenever I moved on my sides and upper arms, but I didn't cry. I wanted to. I wanted to curl up into a little ball and sob my eyes out until my mom came home, but I didn't. I just sat there and waited. I didn't move when I heard her talking to my dad downstairs as if nothing had happened or when my mom came into my room to say goodnight. I guess she just assumed I was spacey because I was overly tired--It was a few hours after my bedtime at that point. I didn't move until I heard her car pull out of the driveway, and my parents go into their room that was right next to mine. I knew they wouldn't let anything happen to me while they were home. It was just when they weren't that I had to worry. I did. At least until I was 12 and was able to convince my parents I was old enough to fend for myself while they went out. Best day of my life." He went through his monologue completely detached until the very end. His voice cracked on his last sentence. He looked up to see tears coursing down Kait's cheeks which he reached up to wipe away with his thumbs.  
  
"Nick, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you. Sometimes I just want to help people so much that I end up hurting them more," Kait whispered putting her hand over his on her face.  
  
Nick was silent for a moment. "I think I'm going to go get a shower now." He stood up leisurely and leaned over to kiss Kait's forehead.  
  
"I'm going to bed. See you in a little while?" she questioned not releasing his hand.  
  
Nick contemplated telling her that he'd stay on the couch but found himself nodding. His hand was released, and he grabbed his gym bag from the floor before going to the bathroom.  
  
Kait got up and went to her bedroom. She curled up on her preferred side and closed her eyes refusing to allow her tears to fall once again. Almost exactly 15 minutes later, she felt Nick climb in next to her and wrap his strong arms around her. She rolled over to lay her head on his shoulder and mumbled something into his neck that she knew he couldn't make out, but she didn't repeat it.  
  
Nick thought he heard her say love, and the thought didn't scare him half as much as he imagined it would.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
_I know...Another short part. I wanted to get other people's suggestions for the other couples before starting with them, and that was where this was going. Please tell me where you see both W/S and G/C after the couple of months that had passed..._


	4. Warrick & Sara in Unfair Times

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You guys really are the best. Well, here's a chapter that doesn't involve Kait and Nick. At least part of it anyway. I'm starting with Warrick/Sara. I apologize for the extremely out-there characterizations. Warrick and Sara as a couple are VERY hard to write. Also, I mentioned before that my writing my be cut down because of school and work responsibilities. I'd like to update that to my writing DEFINITELY being cut down. My class schedule includes Honors Spanish, Honors Chemistry, AP European History, and Trig. Those are the most difficult classes I registered for, so I will be VERY busy with them and work. Here we go anyway...  
  
Also, just for the record, I have nothing against interracial dating myself. I actually defend it when my stepfather says things that shouldn't be said in polite conversation about it. My stepfather and I don't get along to begin with and have VERY different views of the world. I just wanted to say that so that no one takes any offense from this part.  
  
  
Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 4  
By LissaMarie  
September 1-8, 2002  
  
  
Sara sat in the uncomfortable kitchen chair staring at the plate that was set in front of her. More accurately, she was looking intently at the "food" on the plate. Her gaze lifted to her companion.  
  
"It just doesn't look normal, does it?" she asked Warrick of the crooked mold that was supposed to be meatless meatloaf on her plate _(I need something entertaining, so I stole Harm's -- from JAG -- "famous" meatless meatloaf. I hope this doesn't bug anyone.)_.  
  
"Now that you bring it up..." Warrick admitted trying to keep his laughter in check. "It does sort of remind me of the time my grandmother got me this puppy that wasn't paper-trained at all, and he--"  
  
"I get the point," Sara interrupted trying to look at him sternly. The expression of pure innocence on his face managed to make her chuckle nevertheless. "Now that we've established that my cooking looks a lot like puppy crap, maybe we should order out or something."  
  
"Or you could learn to cook," Warrick suggested ducking just in time to miss the cloth napkin that had been thrown at his head.  
  
"I didn't see you out there trying to make anything, and it IS your kitchen."  
  
"Hey, I've already discovered that I'm beyond help when it comes to culinary skill," Warrick shot back. The playful banter that came to the two of them naturally through the previous months was a welcomed distraction from the case they were working on.  
  
"And you think I am? I somehow screwed up a step-by-step instructional recipe," Sara reminded him picking up her plate and showing it to him. "Besides, my learning to cook won't get us food now, and I'm starving." At Warrick's grin, she continued. "For food. Pizza or Chinese?"  
  
"Whatever you want. I'm going to go stretch out on the couch. Let me know when it's here?" Warrick stood up and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"Sure. Vegetable pizza good for you?"  
  
"Great." He made his way out to the living room and carefully sat down. It was almost 6:00, and they had been at his house for just over an hour. He had gone into work a few hours early the day before, so he had been at the office for somewhere around 24 hours straight. He had down that plenty of times before, but his body protested this time. He was getting old...er.  
  
"Should be here in a half hour," Sara whispered to him as she entered the room. She noticed that he didn't open his eyes but knew he was awake. Gingerly sitting down on the edge of the sofa by his waist, she ran her hands up his well-toned chest. "Mind if I join you?"  
  
Instead of reminding her of the small size of the couch, Warrick turned onto his side and welcomed her into his arms. They laid in silence for a few minutes before he heard Sara speak.  
  
"What could make a person do those kind of things?"  
  
_Good question._ "I don't know. We'll have to remember to ask when we catch the guy."  
  
Sara smiled. "Do you really think that we'll catch him?" Her voice was soft and completely unlike her usual self-confident tone. She sounded more like a lost little girl than a well educated scientist.  
  
Her change of character didn't go unnoticed by Warrick, who pulled her closer to him. "I know we will. He made mistakes. It's just a matter of time before he makes another one." Warrick tried to reassure her, but he was uncertain himself.  
  
Sara decided to change the subject. "What do you think the people at work would say if they saw us right now?" She threaded her fingers through his and placed their clasped hands against her stomach. Against her back, she felt Warrick's chest quake with chuckles.  
  
"I really don't know. They couldn't look down on it. We'd really be just another couple in the office," he simplified.  
  
"Has Nick told you what is going on with him and Kait?"  
  
"Nope. Not for my lack of trying. There's the two of them, and then there's Catherine and Grissom--"  
  
"Catherine and Grissom? Since when?" Sara interrupted, turning to face him.  
  
"For awhile, I think. It's not really any of my business, so I try to stay out of it. Lately, though, it seems like they're spending a lot of time together. You know, coming in for shift together, that sort of thing," Warrick told her. He pulled Sara closer to him and closed his eyes.  
  
"So you think that both Kait and Nick AND Grissom and Catherine are in a relationship like ours?"  
  
"Not Nick and Kait. I think they have a little LESS of a relationship than we do," Warrick mock-growled into her ear, and he started kissing her neck.  
  
Sara giggled--A sound Warrick himself was still getting used to--and pulled his lips down to hers.  
  
Then the doorbell rang.  
  
"If we kill him, we won't have to pay," Sara suggested in a tone that made the idea seem completely logical. She laid down on her back to allow Warrick to get up to get the door. After their first few meals together, she had given up on trying to get him to let her pay, so she watched him grab his wallet from the coffee table and walk toward the door. Rolling off the couch to her feet, she followed him.  
  
Warrick gave the older man that was delivering their pizza the money he owed him plus a tip when he caught the man's eyes traveling behind him. He followed the deliveryman's gaze and realized that he was looking at Sara, not with the expression of a man admiring a woman, but of a man shocked and almost disgusted. It wasn't the first time that he and Sara had received looks like that, but it didn't get easier. It seemed that every time they went out there was someone that said something about them behind their backs.  
  
Warrick schooled his features to show no emotion and took the food before closing the door. It was obvious to him that Sara had seen what he had since she was out of the somewhat playful mood she had been in when he had left the room and a frown was evident on her face. They made their way to the dining room table and sat down to eat both remembering another time that they had eaten dinner together.  
  
That time had been much more uncomfortable.  


* * * *

  
_I got the idea for this from something that happened to a friend and I when we went out together. He's Hispanic, and I'm a VERY pale Irish-American. We had a...difficult and very uncomfortable time at the restaurant we selected. So I just made it a little more grown up (I'm 16, so I'd go to places a little different than those 30-something people attend) with a few alterations (It's an abridged version). Sara's reactions are what mine were. People can just be so rude sometimes._  
  
  
The restaurant that Warrick had brought her to made Sara's eyes widen. When he had told her to dress up, she had thought that they would go to some place nice, but what she had in mind was nothing like where they were. Antonio's _(I made up a pizza place in DD, and I'm making up a restaurant in this fic. Deal with it *g*)_ was one of the most expensive restaurants in Las Vegas. She had no idea how he could even afford it.  
  
"I need something to spend my money on now," he whispered in her ear as if he had read her mind.  
  
Sara flushed at the memory that popped up at that remark. She remembered--all too well--his gambling problem. They walked side by side into the restaurant both enjoying their first "real" date as far as they had gotten with it.  
  
"May I help you?" the host behind the podium asked in a tone that was supposed to be friendly but came out cold.  
  
"Reservations for Brown," Warrick offered as if he didn't notice the hostility at all. He could feel Sara tense next to him and moved close to her lightly touching her hand.  
  
"You must be mistaken, sir. We have no reservations under that name," the man responded after looking down at his portfolio. He smiled mock-politely at Warrick and didn't see Sara crane her neck to see what her had read.  
  
"Yes, you do," she informed him in the voice she always used when telling a suspect about the evidence she had collected that would put him away for the remaining years of his natural life _(How would you describe that tone?)_.  
  
The man had the decency to blush slightly. "I must have missed that." His words portrayed the same arrogance that they had before.  
  
"Maybe you should see a doctor about that. It could be something serious," Sara told him. She was careful to keep her tone even and knowledgeable. She was a criminalist; she had to keep her emotions in check all the time. One would think that it would begin to come easy. One would be wrong.  
  
"I think I will. Thank you. Your table is right this way." He led them to the back of the restaurant to a table tucked in a corner, walking away when neither Warrick or Sara said anything.  
  
"And they call us ignorant," Warrick mumbled looking up at Sara. "So, are we having fun yet?"  
  
"Does that happen to you a lot?" Sara asked gently. She looked from him down to the menu on the table.  
  
"No, not really. I also don't regularly come to places like this," Warrick picked up his menu to avoid looking around. He could feel the overt stares that had made their way to he and Sara.  
  
Sara leaned over the table toward him careful to make sure the low cut neckline of her dress didn't reveal too much as she did so. "Why don't we just go somewhere else? We aren't going to enjoy ourselves here, and we'll just be uncomfortable all night. This is Vegas; there are plenty of things for us to do." She leaned back in her chair looking around. "I know you wanted to do something nice tonight, but I don't want to be somewhere we aren't welcome. We get that enough at work."  
  
Warrick sighed and put his menu down. He heard a harsh whisper behind him that was something about "their kind" and rolled his eyes. "If that is what you want." Both stood up gracefully and started for the door. One couple gave them small smiles that were sympathetic, but no one else did anything except watch them leave.  
  
They went to eat at a small cafe and spent the remaining hours of the evening at a club before going back to Warrick's apartment to forget about the rest of their date.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
_Just a personal note for anyone who is curious, my friend and I did end up leaving the restaurant, ate at a small cafe, and went to a club before going to our SEPARATE homes to forget about the beginning of the night.  
  
I wanted to also include Grissom/Catherine in this part, but it's pretty long with just Warrick/Sara. I wanted to get this out asap because of work and school commitments that have been keeping me busy. The next part will be G/C, and the part after that will be back to the case if the next part doesn't touch it._  



	5. Annette Manning

__

Now for Grissom and Catherine and more of everyone and the case. By the way...How do they spell Catherine's daughter's name? Is it Lyndsey, Lindsey, Lyndsay, Lyndsy...For now I'll just spell it like my friend's name, and if I'm wrong I'll correct it. Please read and review.  
  
  
Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 5  
By LissaMarie  
September 9-14, 2002  
  
  
"Gil?" Catherine asked with a sigh for the fifth time since she came into his office. His chair was turned away from her, but she knew he was awake and should be able to hear her. She was well aware that Grissom had a tendency to get lost in the little world that he created years ago in his mind, but after 5 minutes of repeating his name, it was getting ridiculous. Catherine raised her voice slightly. "Yo, Grissom!"  
  
Gil turned around in his chair. "Yes, Catherine?" He obviously didn't know she had been standing there.  
  
"Where were you?" she question exasperated. She made her way to his guest chair and plopped down in it tiredly.  
  
"Right here," he told her slowly and needlessly.  
  
"Well, yeah, but your mind was a million and a half miles away. I must have called your name 10...okay, 6 times before I got your attention," Catherine explained rotating her shoulders and cracking her neck. "Everyone has been gone for a few hours and the day shift is here working on the case. We should both try to get some sleep before we pass out over a microscope."  
  
"I guess you're right. I doubt I'll be able to sleep, but I should try to rest." He sat for a second and added an afterthought. "And maybe take a shower." He looked down at his dirt covered pants in disgust before standing up and stretching a little. He grabbed his jacket off of his rack and led the way from his office. "Has anyone did the facial reconstruction on the girl in the morgue?"  
  
"Day shift's working on it. Once they're done, they'll run it by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Neither one of us is going to be any good to anybody if we drop at their feet," Catherine told him. "Don't worry. I'm sure Ecklie has everything under control."  
  
"That's supposed to make me NOT worry?" Gil gave her a half smile, and she chuckled.  
  
"I see your point," Catherine conceded as Gil held the glass door open for her. They were out in the parking lot, and she turned to him. "Go home and get some sleep. You look like Hell."  
  
"Gee, thank you for that keen observation," Gil told her sarcastically with a half smile playing on his lips. The smile disappeared, and he became serious once again. "Do you do it, too?"  
  
Catherine looked at him as if he were out of his mind. "What are you talking about?" She kept her voice low matching her tone with Grissom's.  
  
"The kids. Do you see Lyndsay when you look at them?" Grissom frowned when he asked, and his gaze left Catherine's eyes and strayed over the other vehicles in the lot.  
  
She was starting to understand. "Every time. Even though my training tells me not to personalize any cases, as a parent, I can't help it. We you thinking about Kait out there?"  
  
"I saw her as a little girl just lying there in the dirt. I blinked, and it was a skeleton again. I read the report Kaite handed in, and I found myself thinking about how the parents would react when they found out and then how I would react. I don't get this way. I never have. I don't understand why this is happening to me now."  
  
"You and your daughter are closer than you've ever been. It's no wonder you are feeling things more like a parent than just a scientist."  
  
Grissom stood there quietly for a moment before moving back over at Catherine. He smiled a little and led the way toward her car opening the door for her. He knew she always forgot to lock her car door when she arrived at work since she was usually in a hurry after trying to get Lyndsay to sleep or doing something else parents of 7 (or 8) year old girls do and not getting to leave her house until 20 minutes before shift started. She should definitely be glad that she worked at a police station.  
  
Catherine smiled at him brightly and climbed in. The door stayed open, and Gil didn't move. "You won't be able to figure it out. Just don't keep it in your head. It'll drive you nuts."  
  
"Thanks, Cath. I'll see you later." He closed her car door carefully and stepped back as she pulled away with a wave. He walked over to his truck and climbed in with a clearer mind knowing it was more normal to feel what he was feeling than to not be feeling it. I made him feel like a real father.  
  
For the very first time since Kaite had been born.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
Kait woke up alone. It wasn't something she should find unfamiliar since she had been waking up that way for 28 years, but since she and Nick had gotten together she had become accustomed to having arms tight around her pulling her back when she tried to climb out of bed. Without the hassle of the an argument of logic vs. a sleepy Nick, she got up and headed toward the main room area.  
  
Nick was sitting at the kitchen table with the various crime scene photos from the dig site. There were a few dozen there, and those were only what he was able to collect before leaving the lab. He knew for a fact that there were still people out at the crime scene since Catherine had called the apartment before she left work to give him an update. He was staring intently at one general scenario photograph of the stretch of land. He could see the stake and rope grids around each area where remains had been found, and the dozens of officers and personnel hard at work. He felt Kait enter the room before he saw or heard her.  
  
"Good morning, sunshine," Nick said to her without looking up.  
  
Kait smiled. "How do you do that?" She went up behind him to squeeze his shoulders.  
  
Nick leaned back his head and urged her lips to his in a sweet, chaste good morning kiss. He didn't bother answering just turned his attention back to the file in front of him and knew Kait would understand his unspoken invitation to join him. He knew he was right when he heard her sit down in the chair next to him.  
  
"How much sleep did you get?" Kait asked concerned as she flipped through various copies of scribbled field notes from a few officers.  
  
"A few hours," Nick told her. At her incredulous look, he relented. "An hour. Maybe. I'm not really sure."  
  
"You could have woke me up," she whispered as she read the thoughts of the men that had unburied a field full of children's remains.  
  
"I wanted to be alone for a little while." Nick eyed Kait. "About what I said earlier...It was a long time ago. It might have changed me, but I'm over it now."  
  
"No, you're not," Kait challenged. "You've buried it, yes, but you never got over it because you never worked through it. I don't know how you can get it behind you, but you can't just try to pretend it's not there--That it never happened. That can only work for so long before it finally drives you out of your mind." She spoke in a hushed but urgent tone and ran her fingers over the material of his sweatpants at his knee.  
  
"Kaite, I have a handle on it. I'm doing just fine. I just want to get through this case and find the son-of-a-bitch that did this. I don't want to talk about my feelings or re-examine my past. I told you why this case gets to me...Why can't you just leave it at that?" Nick's eyes locked with hers, pleading with her to understand.  
  
"Fine," Kait grudgingly agreed. She turned her attention back to the file wondering when Nick was going to finally let her in. She was still thinking about it when she heard Nick leave the room and turn on the shower. "I guess we're going into work." She mumbled as she went to lay out clothes for herself and to see if anything Nick had brought with him would need ironing.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
"So you just got here?" Greg asked Nick and Kait glancing back and forth between them.  
  
Nick looked at him strangely. "Yes."  
  
Greg's eyebrow's rose. "Together?"  
  
"We live in the same neighborhood and decided to save on gas," Kait explained levelly. She smiled when she noticed how Greg blushed, knowing what he had been thinking and that he no longer believed it. She was well aware of the crush Greg had developed on her over the months that she had been in Vegas but quickly decided that if she ignored it, it might go away. It hadn't.  
  
"We have a name for the little girl. Annette Manning. She was 8 years old and went missing from her home just outside of Vegas almost 2 months ago. Her parents are on their way here," Greg explained sullenly.  
  
Kait blinked. "That was quick." She saw Nick nod in agreement.  
  
"Almost everyone with the department is on this case. There are even a few outside specialist from the university and other departments that have been brought in to help out. The work goes by a lot quicker when there are more people to do it." Greg turned around on his stool to get back to doing what he was doing when Kait and Nick had first entered the lab signaling the end of the conversation. His visitors got the point and left.  
  
Kait was silent the whole walk to the break room which was odd for her since she had a tendency to dislike silence when she wasn't alone in it. She had always found it disconcerting to be with someone in the same room with someone with neither person talking. It was uncomfortable for her, but having this case on her mind, conversation was almost impossible for her. It was one thing to have the nameless little girl in front of her, but to see her parents' faces and to have to tell them what had happened to their child--their daughter, Annette--was something else altogether.  
  
Nick was the first to speak after they sat down. "So are you going in for the interview?"  
  
Kait, startled by the sudden interruption, looked up quickly. She thought for a moment before speaking. "I should. It's better they hear exactly what happened to there daughter from the person that examined her body than from someone that only read my report. I'll be able to better answer their questions."  
  
Nick's hand that had been resting on Kait's was suddenly removed, and she frowned at the movement. Only when she heard someone enter the room did she understand.  
  
"Hi, daddy," she said without turning around to face him.  
  
"Hello, Kaite," Grissom responded getting himself some coffee after shooting his daughter and her friend--his friend too, he supposed--strange looks. He took a sip before saying anything else. "The parents are here. Brass hasn't told them anything yet. They're in the interrogation room."  
  
Kait sighed and closed her eyes. She pulled herself up standing and opened her eyes to see Nick looking at her in concern. She smiled and turned to her father who lifted his mug to her. She took it from his hand, taking a sip, hoping to prolong having to do the inevitable.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
_Sorry that it's been so long. I really did mean to get this out sooner. I just had a bad week (I got a B on my Trig test--never got lower than an A in math before--and I think I failed my first AP Euro test--I've never failed a test before). I guess I've been a little depressed, but I'm over it. As Sara Sidle's parents always said, I need to "Relax". I really, really do. Thanks for sticking with me, and please read and review._   



	6. Tears, Coffee, & Otosclerosis

__

To Dearest who thought Kait was manipulative in part 1: She was, but think about it. Nick's hesitation about telling Grissom is making her have to be dishonest with her father who she is trying to build a relationship with. She needs some way to get Nick to agree. I'm sorry that you don't really like religious characters, but you should be happy to know, it is barely mentioned but does define her actions most of the time  
  
To anyone wondering when Kait and Nick will tell Grissom: Stay tuned. It'll be sometime soon. The dinner is Friday night and at this point, it's about...Wednesday evening at the beginning of this part.  
  
Also, I started this while I was in a bad mood (I thought I failed an exam) and finished it when I was in a good mood (I got a 82%). The beginning is sort of angsty (with some Kait-thoughts to make it less tissue-worthy), but later it gets lighter. Okay, my ramble is done.  
  
  
Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 6  
By LissaMarie  
September 15-24, 2002  
  
  
"Hello, my name is Kait Grissom. I'm with the Criminalistics Bureau. This is Jim Brass. Thank you for coming in so soon. I'm sorry if I kept you waiting," Kait said taking a seat across from a handsome couple just a couple of years older than herself. With all her training, she still had no idea how she should continue.  
  
Mr. Manning looked up at her introduction. "I'm Ryan, and this is my wife, Susanna. Did you find Annette?"  
  
The hopefulness in his voice and the anxiousness in his wife's eyes made Kait's stomach turned. She thought about the standard procedure for an interview in her head quickly realizing that they were skipping right over the beginning--the warm-up period--and getting right into the main segment. Instead of establishing rapport, they were going right to acquiring the desired information. She really hated when things didn't go as they were supposed to.  
  
"Yes, we did. Mr. Manning, Mrs. Manning, we found the body of a girl matching your daughter's description outside of town, in the desert. We ran her fingerprints and matched them to the ones taken by Annette's school for the Student Safety Program. I'm very sorry, but your daughter was killed." Kait cringed as she heard herself. Even with their sobs, she continued. "Her body was found buried. I'd say that she had been there about a week. She was dead a few days before that. I was the doctor that examined her. I can try to answer any question you may have."  
  
"She's been gone for 2 months and you're telling us that she died less than 2 WEEKS ago? What happened to her in the time she was missing?" Susanna questioned with tears running down her cheeks. A few strands of hair that had strayed from her ponytail were sticking to her face with her tears.  
  
"Her body was badly beaten. She had signs of severe malnutrition and also of...sexual abuse." The sobs got louder with the last two words, and Kait had to swallow a lump that suddenly formed in her throat before going on. "We need your help if we're going to find the man who did this."  
  
"Anything," Mrs. Manning agreed her tone desperate. She and her husband's hands were clenched together so tightly that their knuckles were white.  
  
"Did anything unusual happen in the days before Annette's disappearance? Did she come in contact with any knew people that may have...rubbed you the wrong way--gave you a bad vibe, that sort of thing?" Kait grimaced internally as she realized a few mistakes she made in her statements. On top of feeling bad about pushing the couple, she had personalized the victim by using her first name and used unscientific terms like _vibe_. She didn't want to envision the lecture she was going to get from her father for that. Maybe if she handled the rest of the interview well, he'd forget...  
  
"I can't think of anything unusual," Susanna mumbled looking toward her husband who shook his head sadly.  
  
"How did she...die?" Mr. Manning questioned, his voice catching on the last word.  
  
Kait slipped into her "Doctor Mode"--as Nick called her clinically detached moments while talking about her findings during autopsies--and told them. "Blunt force trauma to the head. A heavy object was struck against the back of her head breaking her skull. Death was quick. She felt little or no pain." _From the blow to the head, anyway._  
  
Susanna took a deep breath to collect herself and asked the question that had to be asked. "Can we see her? I can't believe this is true without seeing her."  
  
Kait nodded feeling tears prickle at her eyes. She reached across the table and grasped Susanna Manning's hand in her own. "We will find who did this. There is always something that a criminal leaves behind that leads us to him. We're going to make sure this man pays for what he did."  
  
Susanna tightened her hold around Kait's fingers and let more tears roll down her cheeks. "Thank you."  
  
Kait pulled her hand away slowly and turned to Brass. "Will you arrange for Mr. and Mrs. Manning to see their daughter? Doc Robbins should be down in his office. I have to go over a few pieces of evidence in the lab. We can all talk more later." _And I also really have to get away from here. Breathe, Kait._  
  
"I will. Sir, Ma'am, if you'll follow me?" Brass led Ryan and Susanna Manning out of the interrogation room.  
  
Kait sat still for a moment before turning to face her father. "I screwed up, I know. There's nothing I can do about it now."  
  
"I was going to say that you did rather well given the circumstances," Gil commented sitting down next to her.  
  
Kait turned to his with a small smile. "Is that coming from my boss or my dad? Because I don't think I've ever heard my boss compliment anyone working under him." She nudged him with her shoulder to let him know she was joking.  
  
Grissom returned her smile, realizing the she was probably right. "I want you all to do things to impress yourselves--Not me. How could you do that if I'm constantly patting you on the backs?"  
  
"Ha! Excuses, excuses, excuses," Kait summarized. The smile that had been playing on her lips through their short conversation disappeared as her facade also vanished. "How do you do it? How do you look at a child who will never get a chance to grow up and then look at their parents and not cry?"  
  
"Years of practice," he replied deadly.  
  
The tears that Kait had been trying to keep at bay started down her face. "Will you promise me that you'll never allow me to get that way?"  
  
Gil reached over and wrapped his arms around her in an awkward hug. "I'll try my best."  
  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
"Estoy aburrida," Kait sighed as she and Nick were going through the sand and other evidence collected at the burial site. They'd yet to find anything in the 5 hours that they'd been at it that would help them find the killer. Off Nick's look, she clarified. "I'm bored."  
  
How many cups of coffee have you had?" Nick chuckled at her response of two hands displaying six fingers. He changed the subject. "Okay, you speak Italian and Spanish. What other languages do you know?" He asked as he sifted through the dust and dirt from the desert.  
  
"American Sign language and Signed Exact English, a little German, and even less French," Kait mumbled. She still hated talking about herself with the people she worked with--especially Nick. She slid back in her stool and rubbed her eyes. "Why are we doing this? We aren't going to find anything that will help us get this guy."  
  
"I've got something," Nick announced as if he hadn't heard her.  
  
"How did I know that would happen?" she muttered looking over his shoulder at the strand of fiber her was holding in a pair of tweezers. "Looks like hair, maybe?"  
  
"That would be my guess." Nick bagged the fiber to send to Greg.  
  
"A little short to be female. Possibly our killer?" Kait suggested making sure she added the "possibly" at the beginning of her statement.  
  
"It could be. Now will you please explain to me why you drank six cups of coffee in a span of three hours? I didn't think that you really liked it all that much." Nick smiled at her after sealing the evidence bag.  
  
Kait grinned. Being around Nick always made her feel...brighter, somehow. "I never drank the stuff before I came here. Now I admit it...I'm addicted to it. I tried to fight it, but I'm not strong enough. Besides, I have a lot on my mind."  
  
"This case?"  
  
"Yeah, but something else too. Maybe you can help?" Nick nodded. "Do you think my dad and Catherine are sleeping together?"  
  
If Nick had been drinking the coffee they had been speaking of, it would have been all over Kait. To say her question caught him off guard would be calling Mt. Everest a big hill. "What made you think of that?" His response came out kind of screechy.  
  
Kait rolled her eyes at his reaction. "Have you ever walked into a room where they were alone and felt like you were interrupting something? A week ago, he called my apartment about an hour before shift from her house."  
  
"I don't know, but if they are, they're consenting adults. That, and I really don't want to think about it. It's almost as bad as thinking about your parents having sex," Nick told her putting his hands up.  
  
The expression on Kait's face would be enough to make even Grissom laugh out loud. "How the hell do you think I feel?! He _is_ my parent."  
  
"What's up, you two?" Warrick asked as her entered the lab.  
  
They both turned around to face him. It was Nick who replied. "Kait's hyper and thinks that Gris and Cath are...having a relationship that is...more than just professional." He made his statement as politically correct as he possibly could.  
  
"Grissom and Catherine?" Sara asked as she entered behind Warrick. She raised her eyebrows toward Kait who groaned.  
  
"Please, please, for the love of all that is Holy, can we drop this? I think I'm going to get sick," Kait said dramatically covering her face with her arm. "I'm sorry I brought it up."  
  
"Poor Kait," Warrick mock sympathized. He chuckled when she took off her gloves and threw them at him.  
  
"That's it. I'm going down to my office to actually get work done. I have to finish my report on the Manning autopsy anyway, and there are a few more things I have to go over," Kait stood up and walked toward the door. "Enjoy you sand. Good luck finding anything else, Nicky."  
  
Sara and Warrick looked at one another before grabbing gloves to help Nick examine the pails of sand, dust, and hopefully, evidence that would lead them to the man who committed the cold blooded murders of over a dozen children over a span of two decades.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
Grissom sat in his office silently staring at the framed photograph in his hands. It was a picture of a five year old Kait taken at an aquarium in Los Angeles. She was trying her best to sound out the words on the plaque against the glass of the tank. The two of them had been working on her reading for a few weeks using various Dr. Seuss books. Each had their own copy of each book, so they could read together even over the phone. They didn't spend much time together, and they knew one another's voices better than their faces.  
  
And Grissom knew that their was a chance he might wake up one morning and never hear her voice again. He thought about it often. He thought about never hearing her gentle prodding on Sunday mornings when she tried to get him to go to Church with her. The reflection of never hearing her giggle in the quiet, shy way that was so typical of her ever since she was a little girl. He could wake up one morning and be completely deaf, successfully cutting the strongest connection he and his only child shared.  
  
Gil cautiously put the picture back in its place in his desk drawer, and he went to leave his office. He wandered toward Greg's lab knowing that he'd find some kind of racket there to prove that the Otosclerosis hadn't progressed quite that far as of yet.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
_Sorry that it took me so long to get this part out. I have been so busy. I tried to make it longer than usual, but I think it is about the same length of every other part. I wanted to get this part out before everyone lost interest.  
  
Also, here's an invite to join a Yahoo! Group of mine, Nick & Sara Shippers (Yes, I am ordinarily a N/S fic reader. I have no idea where this fic came from really). To join:  
  
Send an email to CSI_Nick-Sara_Shippers@yahoogroups.com  
  
OR  
  
Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CSI_Nick-Sara_Shippers/_  



	7. Drinks and Surprises

__

Hi! Thank you for your reviews so far. I'm not sure how much longer this fic is going to be. I began to map out the investigation which sort of ended up going in a totally different direction, so I'm writing blind. Please keep the review coming to let me know how I'm doing.  
  
Also, the e-mail address to join my group was wrong. The correct one is CSI_Nick-Sara_Shippers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com  
  
  
Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 7  
By LissaMarie  
Sept. 27-Oct. 7, 2002  
  
  
"People suck," Catherine decided as she sat down gingerly on the bar stool watching Grissom tinker around in his kitchen. She took a small sip of her vodka and orange juice before elaborating. "I mean, think about it. They lie, they cheat, they kill. Why can't people just be honest with one another? Wouldn't that be a hell of a lot easier?"  
  
Grissom put the carton of eggs back in the refrigerator. His eye drifted to her drink, and a half smile came to his lips. "Exactly how many of those have you had?"  
  
"THAT is entirely beside the point. Wouldn't it be easier just to tell the truth? To me, secrets have always been a burden. Secrets suck. They have no point. They just RUIN your life," Catherine emphasized the last statement by placing her empty glass down on the table none too gently.  
  
Gil checked on the omelets he was cooking and turned back to his friend. "Will you be coming to the point of this diatribe anytime soon?" Truth be told, the whole topic was making him uncomfortable.  
  
"Now THAT is the point. YOU have secrets that you won't tell me. I'm probably your closest friend, and I didn't even know that you had a daughter until she got a job here. Don't your secrets bother you?" Catherine realized she was getting tipsy. Two drinks shouldn't have that strong of an effect on her, but the weight of work had kept her from her lunch.  
  
"Everyone has secrets, Catherine," Gil explained diplomatically. He used the pancake turner to put their omelets on plates, and he placed his friend's dinner/breakfast/lunch down on the counter in front of her. He made a mental note to make sure she took a little time out of her work schedule to eat something. He noticed the glare she sent him before she took a bite.  
  
"Yes, they do. Some have more than others. Some people don't share anything with anyone, which isn't healthy, by the way." Catherine got off her chair and went to the kitchen intending to make herself another drink.  
  
Grissom spoke without bringing himself around to face her. "No more. You have to pick Lindsay in less than 3 hours, and that is just enough time to get those two out of you system." He turned and smiled slightly at her _How the hell do you do that?_ stare. His eyes followed her movements as she poured a glass of plain, pulp-free orange juice. "Okay, Cath. I have to ask where this topic of yours is going?"  
  
Catherine went to her seat and sighed as she plopped down. "Something's been on your mind lately, and I want to know what it is." Her response was simple and to the point, which were things she took satisfaction in being. Gil on the other hand, she knew, preferred to be cryptic to keep people out. She might not understand it most of the time, but she usually respected it. This time, though, she couldn't stand to be out in the dark while he was obviously hurting.  
  
Grissom leaned up against the counter silently for a moment before walking around, plate in hand, to sit beside her. Should he tell her? How could he? Shouldn't Kaite be the first person he revealed this secret to? He started to eat the small meal he made while more questions came to his mind, and the quiet, everyday noises that most people wouldn't even notice began to fade away.  
  
Catherine watched him knowing he hadn't ignored her. Satisfied that he was at least considering giving her an answer, she took a sip of her juice and finished eating her late brunch.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
Kait sat at the counter in the DNA lab going over the preliminary reports from the autopsies she and Dr. Robbins had done so far. She had gone home to get a few hours of sleep, but still, the wear this case was bringing on her was evident. The reports from the examinations of the skeletons were not yet available, so she was working with only half of the information. She was looking over the results of the Greg's test on the samples she and Nick had collected from Annette's clothing, and she became very confused.  
  
"Greg?"  
  
"Yeah, Kait?" Greg spun around on his stool slightly surprised by the interruption of the quiet of the lab. Normally silence bothered him, but it felt wrong to intrude upon it with music or any of his usual methods of escape. This case was taking a toll on everyone.  
  
"Are these the results for the clothing?" Kait questioned without looking up. A deep frown enveloped her usually serene face. She really wanted to believe that there had been some kind of mix up.  
  
Greg leaned over to see the papers she was speaking of. "Yup."  
  
"You're sure?" Kait asked craning her neck to see him behind her. He nodded. "Three different semen samples. Three different men. This poor little girl." Her eyes went over the paper again sadly, sighing before she stood up. "I'm going to go tell everyone about this new revelation. Could you continue going over these? We're going to need a lot of evidence to get all three convictions."  
  
Greg shook his head. "I don't think you'll be getting any."  
  
Kait turned around quickly, facing him. Her disbelief was evident on her face. "You have that little faith in our abilities?"  
  
"No. That's not it." He fell silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "There was something abnormal about all three samples. I was able to make a karyotype of them, and this is what I found." He pulled three photograph-type papers from a file and handed them to her.  
  
"You can't get a full karyotype from gametes," she reminded him.  
  
"Blood in the sample," was his simple reponse.  
  
Kait's frown deepened after a few seconds. "There's an extra chromosome present."  
  
"Give the girl a star. The 47th chromosome is the result of the trisomy 21."  
  
"Down syndrome?" Her question was obviously rhetorical since she was a doctor herself, but Greg nodded anyway. "Down syndrome patients aren't violent. There has to be more to it." She mumbled to herself as she left the lab and went toward the layout room.  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
"So we're looking for someone with a mental disorder?" Warrick questioned astonished.  
  
"Three severally mentally disabled men who had possibly experienced abuse in their past," Kait confirmed.  
  
Nick spoke up. "What makes you think that?" He made sure that it didn't sound as if he were questioning her judgment. He had gotten in trouble for that more than once. This time, only curiosity was present in his tone.  
  
"Most of the Down Syndrome patients that I've had contact with were empathetic. Though they did seem to learn from what happened around them as most children do. If they are sexually abusing these children, there is a strong chance that they picked up the habit from someone. Either from having it done to them or in front of them." Kait stood in the corner of the room as she spoke, hating having everyone's eye's on her as she reported her grisly conclusions.  
  
"There could be someone teaching mentally challenge individuals to molest little kids?" Sara asked the question Catherine would have, had she been there.  
  
It was Grissom who replied. "People are capable of anything."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
_I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to get this part out. I'd like to thank everyone that has posted reviews and also those who haven't but are still reading this story. I used a few science terms in this part. The terms are real and used in the proper way, but I'm not completely sure if it would be possible to use them in the way I did in this part. If there is anything you'd like to correct, or if there's anything that you didn't understand, use the review function to let me know.  
  
I don't know when the next part will be out. I'm supposed to be working on a paper for my AP Euro class right now, so...  
  
I'll see what I can do. Please read and review._  



	8. Dinner With Dad

I guess I should start off with and apology for the time it has taken me to get this out. I can't  
really say I've been too busy to get this done, but I've had a severe lack of ideas. Work and   
classes and family and the holidays have had my brain exhausted. I also have a very short  
attention span. I'm going to try to wrap up this investigation in the next couple (or few) parts  
to prevent waits like this one. Well, I hope this was at least sort of worth the wait.  
  
Also, I mean no offense to anyone with the topic I am writing about. I have worked with  
people with DS and multiple disabilities. I'm not trying to make them out to be evil or anything.  
The students I met were some of the sweetest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.   
I'm pretty sure I covered this in this chapter, but my mother read this and told me just to add a   
note. It's easier to listen to her than it is to argue.   
  
As always, it's great to hear from readers, and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  
  
  
Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 8  
By LissaMarie  
January 1-10, 2003  
  
Kait sat on a bar stool she had set up in her kitchen watching Nick pull things from the cabinets  
and drawers. Preparing dinner had turned out to be much easier than she had thought. Nick   
had jumped in and taken care of most of it. She fingered her medal as her eyes followed him   
around the small room.  
  
"Can I keep you?" she kidded as he bent over to grab a pan from a lower cabinet and her gaze  
shifted down...lower than it had been before. Dodging the rolled up paper towel that he sent   
flying her way, she stood up off the chair and leaned forward to wrap her arms around his waist.  
  
Nick straightened up and turned in her embrace. "Isn't that sorta the point?" He kissed her   
softly until he felt her begin to pull away. "What?"  
  
"My dad said he'd be here at 6 o'clock, and it's just after 5 now. If you need to jump into the   
shower, you should probably do it now. I know he won't reaction positively to you being in   
there when he gets here, and you know as well as I do that he's always early." She pulled   
away regretfully. She pushed him slightly in the direction of the bathroom as she walked   
toward the stove. "I'll take care of dinner while you're in there."  
  
Nick smiled at her and kissed the back of her neck. "Fine," he mumbled petulantly against her   
skin before doing as he was told.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
AN: Leana is pronounced Lee-ah-nah. It's my friend's name, and she's making me mention   
that. Sorry.  
  
  
Seven year old Leana Wellis sat on the park swing looking up to the sky. It was unusually   
warm for a December afternoon in Vegas, and she intended to enjoy it with or without her   
mother's permission. It wasn't like she was going far away from her house without telling her   
parents; the park was less than a black away. She wasn't hurting anyone. Besides, she would   
be home before her mother even had a chance to realize she was gone. Her mother was   
always too busy with her boyfriend to notice what she was doing anyway.  
  
Leana saw the man on the bench. His appearance was different than the other men that were   
sitting watching their children play. His eyes were large and sunk in, and his mouth was slightly   
open. His glasses rested on his nose which he would rub with the end of his sleeve every few   
minutes. He reminded her of a couple of the kids in the Special Ed class at her school. Her   
teacher had taken time out on the first day to let the students know about them. She remembered   
being told that sometimes the kids in that class were made fun of because they were different.   
She felt for the man. Had he ever been made fun of like those kids?  
  
The young girl jumped off the swing and went to join the man on the bench. "Hello, sir. My   
name's Leana," she introduced reaching out her hand.  
  
The man smiled at her and shook her hand.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After checking on dinner one last time, Kaitlyn made her way out to the dining room. She struck   
a long match and went about lighting the numerous candles she had set up around the room. Nick had   
teased her many times about her home being a fire hazard, but in her mind, there was nothing   
more relaxing than burning candles. She dimmed the chandelier allowing the flickering flames to   
illuminate the small room.  
  
The tranquility of the faint aroma of the candles did nothing to calm Kait's nerves. She dried her   
sweating palms on her maroon skirt and closed her eyes. Her father's opinion had always meant so   
much to her. Ever since she was a little girl, she had always looked to him before making any   
decisions, but in her heart, she knew she had already made a choice regarding Nick. Any   
opposition on her father's part wouldn't change her mind. Would it?  
  
Of course not, Kait assured herself. She smiled and surpressed a giggle when she heard a thump   
and a string of curses coming from the bathroom. Somehow, Nick always seemed to slip getting   
out of her tub.  
  
"Honey, are you okay?"  
  
"Fine," came a muffled reply. "Be out in a second."   
  
Shaking her head slightly, she went back to the kitchen to check on dinner, waiting for Nick to join  
her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The squadcars' lights cast an eerie glow on the street. Frightened and fascinated children stood in   
their windows and on their front porches watching the scene unfold. Curious mothers and anxious   
fathers spoke with the deputies in charge of bringing little Leana Wellis home. Uniformed officers  
were combing the area with the day-shift CSIs and cadets looking for any clues that would help  
them find Leana.  
  
Quinn Wellis sat on her porch steps with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her daughter was really  
gone this time. It wasn't unusual for the girl to sneak out on occasion, but it had always been just   
to go down to the park.   
  
When Quinn had noticed her daughter missing, she had only sighed. She preceeded to angrily   
grabbed her jacket and slip on her shoes preparing to make her way down the playground. She   
paid the sinking feeling in her stomach no mind on her way there as she was too busy trying to   
think of way to punish the girl for once again disobeying her. It wasn't until she had made her   
way around the park for a fourth time without seeing Leana that she began to worry.  
  
"When was the last time you saw your daughter, Ms. Wellis?" the officer asked for what seemed   
like the hundredth time.  
  
"Like I already told y'all, I sent her up to her room when she made a mess of the kitchen around   
2:00. She turned on her radio real loud, and I didn't go up. I figured she was mad that I yelled out   
her. A friend of mine came over, and after he left, I went to her room to tell her she could come   
down. I was going to bring her out to get something to eat. I felt bad for screaming at her."  
  
The officer nodded and gave her tight smile before turning around to speak with another man in  
uniform.  
  
They had found nothing and had yet to speak with anyone who had seen the girl at the playground.  
The sun was down and desert nights could be dangerous. The risk of death by exposure was high  
especially for a 7 year old girl in December. If they added in the fact that there were three   
suspects on the loose that were attacking and killing children, things were looking rather bleak.   
Everyone understood the slim chances of finding the girl alive if they didn't find her within 48   
hours, and that thought kept them moving.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Nick and Kait were in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. Nick's arms dropped from her waist, and   
she reluctantly let her lips leave his. For the first time, she was glad that her father would never   
enter her home without her inviting him in. Generally, she found it annoying since it forced her to   
get up and walk all the way from her comfortable couch to let him in, but she didn't think finding   
them making out was the best way for her father to find out about their relationship.  
  
"I'd better get that. You keep an eye on the food," Kait told him. She kissed him softly on the lips   
to reassure them both. She walked toward the door, pausing to stare at it. She shook her head for   
being silly and pulled open the door with a big smile plastered on her face. "Hi, daddy!"  
  
"Hello, Kaite. Nice to know that you're happy to see me," Grissom smiled hugging her in return.   
He went to let go and frowned slightly when Kaite didn't do the same. He arms were still wrapped   
tightly around his neck. Something wasn't right. "Kaite?"  
  
"Oh! Sorry." Kait pulled away blushing. She lifted her gaze from the floor to look her father   
seriously in the eyes. "There's something I have to tell you. I haven't been completely honest with  
you, and I feel terrible about it."  
  
"Go ahead." The gears in Gil's mind were going around rapidly coming up with many horrible   
situations that could put the dark glint of guilt in his only child's eyes. Could it possibly be worse   
than the secret he was keeping from her?  
  
"Okay." A deep breath. "Alright." A pointed look. "Well, I'm seeing someone. He's a really great   
guy, but I didn't want to tell you until I was absolutely sure it was real. It is...I think. No, it is, I   
know. Anyway, I invited him to have dinner with us." Kait searched her father's eyes which were   
just twinkling in amusement. She frowned. Did he find this funny?  
  
"So when am I meeting him?" Grissom questioned trying not to chuckle at Kait's obvious   
discomfort. His daughter rarely became nervous over anything,and witnessing such an event  
was quite endearing.  
  
"Is right now okay?" Nick asked somewhat shyly as he entered the hall. He watched Grissom's  
head turn to him from Kait and back to Kait again. Surprise didn't begin to explain what he felt  
when his always-serious boss began to laugh. Not just a slight chuckle, but a full out belly-laugh  
that had the older man holding his stomach, hunching over slightly. It didn't take long for Nick and   
Kait to join him.  
  
"From the way you were talking, I was starting to think he was an ex-con or something," Gil   
explained his reaction. "I guess we'll have to discuss your jobs over dinner which smells great,   
by the way."  
  
"Tell Nick; he cooked. I just sat and watched. You two go sit down. I'll get the food." She   
grinned. She looked back and forth between the two men and turned to go to the kitchen. Now,   
her worries seemed so trivial. She should have known things would work out. They always did.  
Even though sometimes they happened in mysterious ways.  
  
Kait grabbed the salad out of the refrigerator and headed out to join her guests. They ate each   
course while paying special attention to their conversation. They were careful to avoid any  
discussion about their current case. It was a time to relax and enjoy themselves.  
  
It was working.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED... 


	9. A Break In The Case

A.N. - Okay, first, I would like to apologize for the LONG wait for updates. I went through a tough time for awhile with depression and family problems. I had trouble just going to school let alone writing anything worth reading (Well, I did write some decent poetry while I was down, but it was REALLY dark and had nothing to do with the fic). I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar which, I gotta tell you, is tons of fun. I tried several meds which didn't help. Now, I'm taking more of a cognitive approach. You know, sorta, "I think therefore I am". Whenever I feel myself going down, I surround myself with positive things and think positive thought. Whenever I feel hyperactivity coming on, I channel it into something positive (My house has NEVER been this clean before). Most of the time, I feel pretty good. 

I'm not going to make any promises about updates because I know that it's entirely possible that I will break them. I don't know how I'll feel tomorrow, so I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to write then. I am, however, going to try. Thanks for sticking by me. I hope you like what I have here.

Now on with the story...

Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 9

By LissaMarie

January 13-August 24, 2003

"Did you see the news today?' Warrick asked Nick as he sat down in the chair next to him in the break room.

Nick looked at the other man curiously and shook his head.

"A little girl went missing. The media is immediately connecting it to this case. I guess it's harder for people to believe that there are more people out there that would do such a thing."

"I guess it's just easier for people to imagine only one evil at a time," Nick agreed. Getting back to work on the case really put a damper on the good mood he had been in since dinner. After they had eaten and spent an hour or so talking in the living room, Grissom had left to allow Nick and Kait some time to rest before what promised to be another long night at the office. It had taken some convincing, but Nick had been able to talk Kait into forgetting about the dishes and to just go to bed. Falling asleep with her in his arms always made him feel great, but the added freedom of not having to hide their feelings any longer lifted a weight from his shoulders that he hadn't even been aware of. It was incredible.

"Yeah," Warrick mumbled without his usual sarcasm. "Where's Kait?"

"She's down in the morgue. They're backed up, and Doc Robbins can't afford to have her out in the field," Nick told him. He continued before Warrick had a chance to say more. "Catherine and Sara went with Gris out to the missing girl's house, and we're supposed to be identifying our victims."

"Aren't you on the top of everything," Warrick commented.

"I try to be."

Warrick watched curiously as Nick pushed himself out of his chair and walked out of the room. His closest friend seemed oddly…content. Not that Nick wasn't usually in a good mood, but something about him betrayed a peace that Warrick had never seen in him before. With the case they were working on, it seemed an odd time for it to come about.

Deciding it was really none of his business, Warrick shook the thoughts from his mind and followed Nick.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Kait was finally able to leave the autopsy bay to grab something to eat. It was a busy night for the criminals in Vegas. She barely had time to think in between examinations. Closing her office door, she hoped people would get the point and leave her alone. She plopped down in her desk chair and grabbed her apple in one hand and a file in the other. She hated being pulled off the child murders case, but she knew Doc Robbins really did need her help.

Even though she was no longer assigned to the case, she still intended to help out as much as she could. She wanted to make sure everyone understood that though the perps in this case could also be considered victims, they were dangerous. Someone may have taught them what they know, but it still is what they do.

Kait remembered working with Down's Syndrome patients during her time in school. One 16-year-old boy lived with his parents and two older brothers. His brothers had taught him several disgusting and impolite which he considered to be normal behavior. She could recall thinking it was funny, at first. Of course, then it got gross and annoying. She still found it hard to believe that someone could be teaching these men to molest children in much the same way, but with her experience and education, she could see no other way for these men to learn the behavior. It was far from typical.

In Las Vegas, there were two facilities which dealt exclusively with Down's Syndrome patients. Kait had spoken with the directors of both over the phone, and they agreed with her hypothesis about how the perps learned the behavior. Of course, they couldn't give her specific information about their patients with the doctor-patient confidentiality laws, but they told her that if anything came to mind that could help them solve the case, they would give her a call.

Kait knew that that was the best she could expect with the evidence they had so far. DNA was only good evidence when you had something to compare it to.

The young doctor was about to go back to her work when the office door burst open and Nick popped in.

"We might have a break."

TO BE CONTINUED...

A.N. - More apologies...I'm sorry this part was so short. I was hoping to write more, but it just didn't work that way. I'm also sorry if it doesn't seem to flow well. If you look at the dates at the top, there was a good bit of time between start and finish. Anyway, I'm sorry for anything else I should apologize for. I think I have all the apologies covered now.

I'll try to update soon.


	10. We Have A Suspect

A.N. - Two parts in one day. Wow. They're short parts, but it's 2 parts nevertheless. On with the story...

Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 10

By LissaMarie (owl_eyed_goddess@hotmail.com)

August 24, 2003

"What did you find?" Kait asked as she and Nick walked briskly down the hall which connected the medical examiner's office to the crime lab. Nick hadn't said a word since his announcement in her office. She hadn't thought twice about abandoning her work with the ME to follow her boyfriend to the lab. Now, she was beginning to think she should have gotten more information before ditching her duties. _Nicky, this better be good._

"Greg's been busy getting the DNA profiles for the victims. Some of the remains were too old and badly preserved to get anything workable, but Greg was able to get a profile for several of the victims. He compared them all to the perps playing off a hunch, and it panned out. One of the victims has several markers in common with one of the perps," Nick explained.

"They're related?"

"Siblings, according to Greg."

Kait stopped in the middle of the hall, her momentary elation from the revelation gone. The realization that they really weren't any better off than they were before hit her like a ton of bricks. "Nick, it's great that we know this now, but it's not going to help us find the killers. We don't know who the vic is to make the connection."

"Yes, we do," Nick smirked at her.

Kait tilted her head to the side and had a confused expression on her face that Nick found adorable. "Huh?"

"Warrick and I spent the night pouring over missing person's reports for the age group. One of the perps had a sister. Her name was Melinda Cassidy Monroe. She was born on June 7th, 1990 and reported missing in the spring of '99. Her parents are Charles and Marci Monroe, and she has two older brothers. Matthew is 16, and Samuel is 19."

"Which one has Down's?" Kait inquired grabbing onto Nick's sleeve and pulling him toward the DNA lab.

"Samuel. Brass contacted the parents. They're on their way down. Warrick's on the phone with the judge looking to get a search warrant for their house."

"This is good."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Please let me go," Leana sobbed from the corner of the dark room when she heard footfalls stop in front of the door. She had seen the story on the news about the kid's bodies found out in the desert. All she knew was that she didn't want to end up like them. Her life might suck, but it was her life. She wanted it.

The girl listened as the footfalls resumed down the stairs until she could no longer hear them. Her sobs got louder.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Doc, it's Kait. By the time you get this message, you're probably going to be seriously pissed at me. There was a break in the child-murders case. I'll do whatever you want to make this up to you, I swear. I had to be a part of this. Um, give me a call on my cell." Kait pressed the "End" button and slid her phone back into her pocket. She twisted in the passenger seat to face Nick who was driving them to the Monroe residence. She took in his set jaw and white knuckles. Something was wrong. "Nicky, we have a suspect and a warrant. Dad's interviewing the parents as we speak. What has you tied up in knots?"

Nick took a quick peek toward Kait before turning his attention back to the road. "We still don't know where this guy is. We still don't know who the other two are. We still don't know if they're responsible for the latest abduction. We still-"

"When did you turn into such a pessimist?" Kait interrupted, her question rhetorical. "All in due time, Nick. We just have to take this one step at a time." She laid her hand on his arm and massaged it gently, and Nick felt himself begin to relax under her caring touch.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Grissom hated probing the Monroes for information after just revealing to them that their daughter was found dead. He also knew that it was necessary to avoid having another parent go through the same ordeal. They were going to have enough with the parents of the 18 children whose remain they had uncovered. He tried to ignore their tear-stained faces as he continued.

"Mr. and Mrs. Monroe, could you by any chance tell us where your son, Samuel, is?" Grissom asked gently.

"He spends a lot of time with his friends. It's good for him. The doctors encourage it," Mrs. Monroe explained.

Grissom nodded. "Would it be possible for you to make a list of Samuel's friends, possibly including a way we can contact them? An address or phone number, maybe?"

Mr. Monroe agreed. "Of course."

"Also, does Samuel associate with other people with Down's Syndrome?" Gil made certain to make his question sound somewhat off hand.

"Yes. There are several people he grew up with. We would take him to the Desert Sand Center once a week, sometimes more. They have a lot of programs to help people like Sam. We want him to have the best life he can possible have," Mrs. Monroe replied.

"I've heard of the facility," Grissom informed her. He continued, "Would you be able to also give us a list of the people her may have closely associated with while there?" Both Charles and Marci Monroe nodded. "If you could please start on the lists, I'm going to go check with the medical examiner about releasing your daughter's remains.

"Thank you, Mr. Grissom," Mrs. Monroe responded tearfully.

TO BE CONTINUED...

A.N. - I'll plan to update soon (possibly in the next day or so), but I'm not going to make any promises for the same reasons I stated earlier. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed what I've posted so far. Please read and review.


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